Yesterday, Meg and I went down the hill after breakfast and enjoyed the company of our Saturday friends. Upon our return, we cooked the second half of a chicken, leek and ham pie that we had left in the freezer. Then we started watched the classic film of ‘Casablanca’ which we watched until the carers came for Meg’s late afternoon comfort call. When it looked as though the weather was set fair, I washed our new purchased throw on the coolest of washes and rigged up a clothes line – fortunately, I had some spare clothes lines in places waiting until I had need of them. Then I put the throw out on the line to have a blow for about 3-4 hours after which it was nearly dry so I spread it out in our airing room so that is can get truly dried off before I bring it into use.
The Summer Bank Holiday beckons next Monday and I do not look forward to these with any degree of enthusiasm. As it is the last Bank Holiday of the year, many families take it as an opportunity to get their last little taste of a summer vacation as the school children will return to schools in early September and the long hard grind over the Autumn period commences. These days, half term breaks become quite important but these are generally towards the end of October which seems a fair way off. The next few days have to be ‘tunnelled through’ in many ways. Many friends are taking the last opportunity to have a break with their own wider families and there is a general sense of turmoil even amongst the cadre of care workers who we have grown to know over the last few months. Turnover in the care industry is high but at this time of year there seem to be an unprecedentedly large number who are leaving the agency. This is either because they are starting more permanent and secure positions within schools in a variety of roles or because the agency does not give them sufficient hours on their zero hours contracts and they seek a greater continuity of hours of work. Many of the college pupils/university student sections of the agency staff will be returning to their colleges shortly so it is a time of great change. The Paralympic games are due to start next week but as the opening ceremony is not until Wednesday, the actual events will not commence until the following day. We have always found these games to be entertaining and the UK has traditionally done very well in these sports. The proximity of Paris no doubt bodes quite well as many families and friends will find it easier to make the trips to support their athletes. It looks as though Paris is going to make a distinctive set of games by having events in the locations that show off Paris to its very best and therefore, like the main Olympic Games themselves, the opening ceremony is not going to be in a stadium. The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which will take place between 28 August and 8 September, will see more than 4,000 athletes from around the world competing in 549 medal events and will showcase 22 sports, including both individual and team events.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech of the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination Thursday beat MAGA to the political punch and captured a key voting bloc in the process, according to a former Republican spokesperson. Tara Setmayer, Seneca Project co-founder and former GOP communications director, argued during a CNN Friday morning that Harris positioned herself as a potential commander-in-chief before former President Donald Trump could define her as a threat. ‘If you don’t think it was effective, all you have to do is look at how Donald Trump and his surrogates were responding to her speech: there was a meltdown.’ Republican commentators have already conceded that the Harris stance on abortion rights is going to be a critical factor in the Democrat’s favour in the forthcoming election. Paul Begala, co-panelist and onetime campaign adviser to former President Bill Clinton, concurred that Harris had the upper hand when it came to unifying a political party ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5. Begala pointed to Harris’ promise to be a president for all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, as a crucial moment in her speech when it came to unifying her base. I have also just come an extraordinary story concerning Trump’s finances. Trump himself has been the biggest spender, both this year and over the last decade. Between his three presidential campaigns, Trump and associated political groups have funnelled more than $28 million in campaign donations to his businesses – helping convert the enthusiasm of his political supporters into personal profit. Other Republicans have followed suit, spending millions at Trump’s properties in an apparent attempt to curry favour with the former president and signal their allegiance to him to GOP voters. An even more extraordinary Trump ‘happening’ was reported by the liberal MSNBC network. Former President Donald J. Trump was watching television on Thursday night and he did not like what he saw. His newly minted Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, had just accused him of grovelling to dictators, imperilling democracy, betraying American values and, to top it off, deemed him ‘an unserious man.’ So Trump picked up the telephone and called Fox News. It can be appreciated why the network worked quickly to get the Republican candidate on the air, albeit by telephone. Trump is, after all, the Republican nominee, and it stood to reason that he’d have something notable to say in response to his Democratic rival’s remarks. What Fox might not have realised, however, is that Harris’ convention speech had apparently caused a meltdown. Trump appeared on the air for about 10 minutes, during which time he not only raged incoherently, he also accidentally pushed random buttons on his phone. The interview might have gone on longer, but the Fox anchors effectively cut off the former president mid-rant so that the network could move on to other programming. For Fox News, one of most right wing and Trump-friendly channels to cut him off in this way is extraordinary. So the term that the Republicans are using to describe Trump’s behaviour i.e. ‘meltdown’ might not be hyperbole after all.
© Mike Hart [2024]